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## The trust problem with VPNs

Here's something the VPN industry doesn't love talking about: when you use a traditional VPN, you're not eliminating the middleman. You're choosing a different one.

Without a VPN, your ISP can see your traffic. With a VPN, your VPN provider can see your traffic instead. You've shifted trust, not removed it. For most people, that tradeoff is fine. If you're using a reputable VPN provider with an audited no-log policy, it can be a real improvement over an ISP that may be legally compelled to hand over your browsing history.

But what if you didn't have to trust anyone?

## What is Lantern Private Server?

Lantern Private Server lets you run your own VPN server on infrastructure you control. Your traffic flows through a server you set up, on a cloud account you own, in a region you choose. No third party touches your data.

It's a free feature. Lantern doesn't charge anything for it. You pay only what your cloud provider charges for the server itself, typically a few dollars per month.

There are two ways to set it up, depending on how much control you want.

## Why private servers matter for circumvention

If you're in a censored region, private servers solve a specific problem that centralized VPN services struggle with.

Large VPN providers run thousands of servers, but those servers live on well-known data center IP ranges. Censors maintain blocklists of these ranges and can shut down access to entire VPN networks in one move. During the 2022 protests in Iran, many circumvention tools were blocked within days1 as authorities targeted known VPN infrastructure.

A private server is different. It's a single server on a standard cloud provider, running on an IP address that isn't associated with any VPN company. Censors would have to identify and block it individually. That's much harder than blocking a known VPN network's IP ranges, and doing it at scale risks collateral damage to legitimate cloud services.

You can also share access with trusted friends and family. If someone you know is in a censored region, you can generate a secure link that gives them access to your server. More on that below.

## Quick Setup: a few clicks in the Lantern app

This is the path for people who want the benefits of a private server without touching a terminal.

**What you need:** The Lantern app on any platform and a DigitalOcean account. That's it.

**How it works:**

1. Open the Lantern app and navigate to Private Server setup.  
2. Connect your DigitalOcean account.  
3. Choose a server location. For example, if you're sharing access with someone in Iran, a server in a nearby uncensored country will give them better speeds than one on the other side of the world.  
4. Lantern handles the rest. It provisions the server, configures the protocols, and connects your app automatically.

Once it's running, you connect through the Lantern app just like you would with Lantern's regular network. You can also toggle back to Lantern's network anytime if your private server is down or you want access to a different region.

**Sharing access** is straightforward. Generate a link in the app and send it to someone you trust. Each share link is unique per user and timestamped, so they expire. This isn't open access. You decide who gets in.

## Manual Setup: full control for technical users

If you want to run Lantern's server software on your own infrastructure, the [Lantern Server Manager](https://github.com/getlantern/lantern-server-manager) is open source and gives you complete visibility into what's running.

### Deployment options

You can deploy the server manager in a few ways:

* **Docker.** Pull the image and run it in a container. This is the fastest path if you already have Docker on your server.  
* **Single binary.** Download and run directly on a Linux machine. No container runtime needed.  
* **Cloud marketplace.** Deploy through DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, or AWS marketplace listings for a more guided setup.

Any VPS provider will work. You're not locked into a specific cloud platform.

### What happens at startup

When the server starts for the first time, it automatically generates random TLS certificates and access keys. You don't need to configure cryptographic material yourself unless you want to provide your own.

The server creates a "root" access key and stores it in a config file. This key is how you authenticate to manage the server. **Keep it safe.** If you lose this key, you'll need to start over with a fresh deployment. There's no recovery mechanism, by design. Nobody, including Lantern, has a backdoor to your server.

### Managing your server

The server manager gives you three interfaces:

* **Web UI.** A browser-based dashboard for managing users and monitoring the server.  
* **Console UI.** A terminal interface for the same management tasks.  
* **REST API.** For scripting and automation. If you want to build your own tooling on top of the server, this is how.

### Connecting clients

After setup, the server generates a QR code. Scan it with the Lantern app to connect. You can also generate share links through any of the management interfaces. Each link is unique to the recipient and has an expiration timestamp.

## When to use a private server vs. Lantern's network

A private server isn't better in every situation. Here's a practical breakdown.

**A private server makes more sense when:**

* You want zero third-party involvement in your traffic.  
* You're sharing access with specific people in censored regions and need an IP that isn't on any blocklist.  
* You need a server in a specific geographic location for latency or legal reasons.  
* You want full visibility into the server software and configuration.

Lantern's network makes more sense when:

* You need access to many server locations across different regions.  
* You want Lantern's protocol diversity and automatic fallback when one protocol gets blocked. With over 12 years of experience in censorship circumvention, Lantern's network is optimized for exactly this.  
* You don't want to manage infrastructure at all.  
* Your private server's IP gets blocked and you need an immediate alternative.

The good news is you don't have to choose permanently. The Lantern app lets you toggle between your private server and the Lantern network whenever you want.

## Get started

**Quick setup:** Download Lantern and look for Private Server in the app settings. You'll need a [DigitalOcean](https://www.digitalocean.com/) account to get started.

**Manual setup:** Head to the [Lantern Server Manager repo on GitHub](https://github.com/getlantern/lantern-server-manager) for documentation, deployment instructions, and the source code. Everything is open source.

If you run into issues, check our support documentation or reach out to the Lantern team.

---

## Footnotes

1. "Iran Shuts Down Internet Access as Mahsa Amini Protests Intensify," NetBlocks, September 2022\. Multiple circumvention tools reported widespread blocking as Iranian authorities expanded Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) filtering during the nationwide protests. ↩



Your Own VPN Server. No Middleman.

There are countless VPNs competing to tell you they're the fastest or have server locations in the most countries. Most of them work basically the same way.

Lantern doesn't. We're a nonprofit that has spent 12 years helping people in China, Iran, and Russia circumvent government censorship. We just released a major update that brings the technology we've refined in heavily censored countries to users everywhere.

Here's what's different.

## Smart Routing: Skip the VPN When You Don't Need It

Most VPNs route everything through their servers. Every website, every app, every bit of data. This slows things down, even when you're just checking the weather or streaming Netflix.

Why do they do this? Often, because their marketing depends on it. You've seen the ads: "Hackers on public WiFi will steal your passwords\!" In reality, nearly all modern websites use HTTPS encryption. Your passwords and credit card numbers are already protected, even on sketchy coffee shop WiFi. The threat they're selling you on was solved years ago.

Lantern's Smart Routing works differently:

**Direct connection for safe sites**: If a website is unblocked and uses HTTPS, Lantern connects directly. You get full-speed access to streaming, downloads, whatever.

**Automatic tunneling for blocked or insecure sites**: If a site is censored or doesn't use HTTPS, Lantern routes traffic through our encrypted network instantly.

**Full tunnel when you want it**: Prefer the traditional all-traffic-through-VPN approach? One click switches you to Full Tunnel mode. Useful if you want to completely mask your location.

**Split tunneling for exceptions**: On top of either routing mode, you can specify individual apps or websites that should bypass the VPN. Useful if your bank blocks VPN connections and you're running full tunnel, or if you need specific exceptions to smart routing's automatic logic.

## Run Your Own Server

The new version lets you spin up your own private server and route all your Lantern traffic through it.

Instead of sharing an IP address with thousands of other users (which can get you flagged or blacklisted), you get your own infrastructure. Connect your DigitalOcean account, pick a location, done. You still get Lantern's software, encryption, and protocol management, just running on a server you control.

## Protocols Built to Beat Censorship

Standard VPN protocols like OpenVPN and WireGuard are easily fingerprinted by state-level actors. We use the same obfuscated protocols that actually work in China and Iran:

* **Hysteria2 & TUIC**: Next-gen protocols built on QUIC, optimized for unreliable connections and high-latency networks  
* **VLESS, VMess, & Trojan**: Standard-bearers of modern censorship circumvention  
* **TLS Record Fragmentation**: Splits the initial handshake packets into smaller pieces, scrambling the specific fingerprint that censors use to identify and block VPN connections  
* **WATER (WebAssembly Transport Executables Runtime)**: Allows us to deploy new transport protocols dynamically without requiring a full app update, staying ahead of censorship technology  
* **Unbounded, AnyTLS, ShadowTLS, & Kindling**: Specialized obfuscation layers that make VPN traffic look like ordinary web browsing to Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) systems

These aren't theoretical. They're what's kept Lantern working in the world's most censored countries for over a decade.

## Radical Transparency & Non-Profit Trust

We're a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our code is open source. We've been independently audited four times. You can verify what we're claiming instead of taking our word for it.

This matters in an industry where "no-log VPNs" are often shell companies registered in tax havens.

## Help Users in Censored Countries Get Online

You can turn Lantern into a bridge for people in censored countries. One toggle, and your uncensored internet connection helps route traffic for someone in Tehran or Moscow trying to access blocked sites.

Why this matters: Censors have an easy time blocking traffic from known VPN server IPs and data centers. Your residential IP address is much harder to block without causing collateral damage to regular internet users. By running as a proxy, you're providing access through an IP that censors can't easily blacklist.

## Your Subscription Funds Freedom

Most Lantern users are in Iran, China, Russia—places where buying a VPN subscription is difficult, dangerous, or impossible. When you pay for Lantern Pro, you're directly funding the bandwidth and servers that keep it free for millions of people who need it to access news, communicate with family, or organize.

## The Point

The new Lantern gives you smart routing, your own server option, and protocols that actually work against state-level censorship. But more than that, it turns your VPN subscription into something that helps people in authoritarian countries access the open internet.

[Download it here.](/download)



Why Lantern’s New Release is a Game Changer for Privacy and Internet Freedom

Latest Posts

Your Own VPN Server. No Middleman.

— Lantern Blog

Why Lantern’s New Release is a Game Changer for Privacy and Internet Freedom

Latest Posts

Your Own VPN Server. No Middleman.